The Pyramid

Uninspired, Egypt-set horror starring The Inbetweeners' James Buckley

James Buckley appears in his first horror film as a toned-down version of his character Jay from the popular TV series, and now film franchise, The Inbetweeners. His role as Fitzie the cameraman allows him to keep his cockney accent and dole out lines like, 'NASA’s gonna be pissed,' which is amusing for about five minutes.

A father / daughter archaeologist duo (played by Denis O'Hare and Ashley Hinshaw) and a TV crew are sent to Egypt to uncover the secrets of a special three-sided pyramid. When the pyramid is opened it emits a toxic gas which poisons one of the workers, resulting in the site being closed down. Our intrepid adventurers can’t resist a peek and send down a NASA robot named Shorty – a mini Johnny Five-like contraption – so they can have a look underground. When Shorty gets mauled by a mysterious creature the team decide to head down themselves to investigate and retrieve the valuable device.

Grégory Levasseur takes on directorial duties for the first time and though he ramps up tension at the final hurdle, for the most part this effort is hampered by a rote script from Daniel Meersand and Nick Simon. Levasseur knows horror - he co-wrote the Maniac and The Hills Have Eyes remakes with Alexandre Aja, alongside penning several other horror screenplays - so it’s a real shame he didn’t take on writing duties here.

There are some off-putting, juvenile touches early on, such as a camera spying on a young woman in her underwear - something that's played for laughs. But these are simply an exercise in time-wasting, which is essentially what this film boils down to: biding time between frights. The Pyramid delivers a similar experience to recent found-footage horror As Above, So Below, only this time with an ancient Egyptian spin.

General release from Fri 5 Dec.

The Pyramid Official Trailer (2014)

Father / daughter archaeologist duo (O'Hare, Hinshaw) and a TV crew investigate a mysterious three-sided pyramid. Buckley appears as a toned-down version of his character from The Inbetweeners, and although director Levasseur has horror form, a rote script and some juvenile touches make this an exercise in time-wasting.